Oscar Night

Melissa and I spent the day running around together. We went to visit The Supercolon at the hospital just to say we'd seen it. I have to laugh because we both walked out of there and remarked that it wasn't as big as we thought it'd be. We headed over to the mall and did a little shopping before going to see Atonement.

We painted eggs last night which means I had to do some MAJOR championship cleaning to prepare for that. I worked all this last week and this picture of my sink proves that I've been eating nothing but cereal. Oh how I love cool, soothing tones of blue...and then that awful RED spatula has to throw everything off. And yes I individually wash and dry all my eggs, don't you? These are a dozen jumbo sized eggs that I scrutinized for hairline cracks in the store. All the other customers must have thought I have OCD. I rinsed them in some vinegar and water before we began painting. We mixed up 7 new colors last night, including a yellow that actually shows up as yellow! We had take and bake pizza for supper and then enjoyed the Oscars while working.

I forgot to take a picture of Melissa's eggs before she left. I think we were both a little tired by the time we started painting so we only made a few each. I have all kinds of ideas I'd like to try with the new colors. We got rid of the glass jars and put each color in an empty plastic pop bottle which worked REALLY well. The box is still sitting out there on the table and I'm tempted to work on a few more...

Cousin Ella

First and foremost, Happy Valentine's Day! I went home during the week to visit my parents and to have my car repaired (FINALLY!). I was fiendishly working on this baby sweater...for no one in particular. This yarn started life as a felted purse kit and I've made a blue one of the same yarn, but I was so pleased and impressed with how soft and almost roving-like the yarn was. I had since bought this pink kit for a little girl I know, and I've made a number of baby sweaters from this pattern and couldn't help but think how well that yarn would work up. And I suppose the colors were festively appropriate! I like how the colors graduate but I must admit I was a bit nervous when I saw the red creeping out of my ball of yarn. I think the colors look ok though.

Meanwhile my mother mentioned she had some baby clothes and a baby book ready to be mailed to her cousin Freddy for their new baby girl and immediately I knew who would get the sweater! I wrote a card to Freddy and Shelly and told them about Ella's sweater and how to care for it. After I wrote it, I felt a bit sheepish because I'd written "Freddy" without even thinking! He will always be Freddy and not Fred to me because Fred is his dad. He is my mother's first cousin, so therefore my second cousin...and I don't know what that makes Baby Ella! I hope she likes her sweater.

I got to cook a little this weekend which is always fun. We enjoyed a corned beef brisket and New England boiled supper, and for Valentine's I got to fool around with my French lentils. I got them in Rochester and finally got to make French lentils in puff pastry. They were very good. I boiled them with bay leaf and then cooked them up with shallots/garlic/carrot/parsnip. I have a Thyme and Tarragon French lentil soup I'd like to try. I also made the compulsory caramel pots de creme for my mother :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made BUTTER!

I made real butter! As in REAL LIVE butter! I listen to the show "The Splendid Table" whenever I can, and a few months back they did a show all about butter and she posted a recipe on her website. Of course they stress the quality of your cream, ideally unpasteurized and right out of the cow. Unfortunately I can only get supermarket quality heavy whipping cream, in this case--a quart of Sam's Choice store brand.

The recipe says to mix on medium to high speed until it separates, but the guest chef that day said that he would mix it for at least 20 minutes on low for better results. Well I beat that cream on low for twenty minutes and I swear I made myself car sick staring at the bowl and watching the cream--it was so bad I had to go and lay down! I got back up, got the cream out of the fridge and beat it on med and then on to high for another 30 minutes. I thought it would be a quick and drastic change because I remember working at camp one summer and I was in charge of frosting the brunch cakes with freshly whipped cream. They always warned me never to step away from the Hobart because it could be over whipped and turn to butter...


It took a LONG TIME to get it to butter! On the left here we have nice fluffy, expanding cream. FINALLY on the right...it has gotten heavier and deflated and you can see the buttermilk separating in the bottom of the bowl. This is poured through a sieve and you mash the butter together as if you were making a snowball and you literally WRING buttermilk out of it! You can knead salt into it if you want to but I didn't for this first try. I am curious to see if it will taste anything like clotted cream. You'll get about a pound of butter and a little more than a pint of buttermilk.

The buttermilk was interesting. It reminded me more of coconut milk in it's appearance. It almost looks like skim milk because it is quite translucent. And it is watery--not like the thick, beige stuff we get at the store. Well now all I needed was something to EAT the butter on! I baked some Valentine banana bread loaves and I used the buttermilk in an oatmeal and buttermilk bread recipe! I will be packaging up my Valentines tonight :)

I have had this butter press for EVER and I've always wanted to use it! I will take this butter home to my parents this week! :) I should bake some kringlas to go with this butter...hmmmm.

Knit Your Bit!

I know that there are people who will say I am crazy or weird, but I think it is SO important to support our troops. I have always been enamored of the WWII civilian knitting cause. Had I been alive during WWII, I would have been first in line to knit socks, helmet liners and what not for our soldiers. I also try to chat online somewhat regularly to our troops in Iraq, even if it is just to tell them about our weather, the price of gas, or what I bought at the grocery store that day. I have been told by more troops that they enjoy just hearing about normal day to day activities here at home. Needless to say, I finished two pairs of socks to mail to a soldier and his room mate in Iraq. I made them measure their feet and everything. I promised them a pair of socks way back before Christmas and I'm truly sorry it took me this long to finish them but I had to finish my Christmas knitting first! I am still working on my Toni Jacket sweater as well as a few other charted items that require PAYING ATTENTION to the pattern, but socks are totally mindless so I bring them to work and knit on them for 20 minutes here or there during down time. I'm so self conscious about knitting for the troops that when my co-workers ask me who I'm making them for, I always fib and answer, "They're for my brother." Those poor boys are over there doing a job I know I wouldn't want to do. More importantly, they are doing a job I don't think I'd be CAPABLE of doing! God bless each and every one of them! I wrote a little note to go with each pair saying that these had been knit especially for them right here in Iowa with my own two hands. And I am sure there are people who would say, "Whoop-dee-doo, a pair of socks!" but I know they will be used and appreciated. I also thanked them for the chance to actually "Knit My Bit"! Enjoy your socks Allen and Roy!

Road trip...

I went with Brenda to St. Ansgar yesterday to shop for a wedding dress! I have to say I was very impressed with the bridal shop there! She had a productive day in that she found and ordered not only her dress, but her bridesmaids' dresses and can ALSO order yardage of matching material for her nieces' dresses! I didn't have to do much because there were at LEAST 87 people working in the shop that day and they were SO attentive! At times she had TWO gals in the fitting room with her helping her select and try gowns! While she was busy with her dresses, I had fun looking at all the gowns and surveying all the lace and beadwork! That shop gets nothing but top marks from me! We then trekked over to JoAnn Fabrics and she found patterns for the girls. And THEN...
...she drove me to Clear Lake to the Larson's Mercantile store which is sadly going out of business! :( A co-worker had told me about their 70% off Going-Out-Of-Business-Sale and did I mention that they stock Collinette yarn?!? We got there and the entire store was already being dismantled and everything was PICKED OVER! I literally RAN to the back of the store to the yarn area and there were only 2 skeins of Collinette left in ORANGE but I STILL grabbed them! I also snapped up 20 balls of a fabulous viscose/cotton/acrylic blend sock yarn in Glorious Technicolors and some size 17 dpn's and a pair of size 19 straight bamboo needles! SCORE! All in all, I got over $250 worth of knitting stash for $75! I swore I was going to take it home and just ROLL AROUND IN IT! Of course I was thrilled with my purchase, but I was sad to see that store close! I am sure you can't get Collinette within 150 miles of here! Every now and then on a day off, I'd trek over there to just "visit" the yarn and I'd always leave with a skein or two that I couldn't live without!